Continuing our theme of Jesus’ birth as an act of war, I want to talk about one of the most difficult songs I ever played on the piano. When I was a senior at Clemson University, I accompanied the Clemson Glee Club, and we did Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. Carol #6 has the innocuous title “This Little Babe.” Here’s what John Stonestreet at Breakpoint had to say about it:

Now arguably, the most-loved carol [in Ceremony of Carols] is “This Little Babe.” Despite the sentimental-sounding title, the text is anything but. It’s about a battle between the Babe of Bethlehem and Satan himself.

The text, written by Robert Southwell, a Catholic priest, who was hung, drawn, and quartered by Queen Elizabeth I, reads “This little Babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, Though he himself for cold do shake; For in his weak unarmed wise, the gates of hell he will surprise.”

Jeff Spurgeon of New York’s classical music station, WQXR, wrote that he finds himself “surprised” and “deeply moved” every time he hears Britten’s setting of “This Little Babe.” In Southwell’s words and Britten’s music, the battle between good and evil is won by “a baby born in obscure poverty” and that battle is depicted “not by a huge orchestra and massive voices, but by a harp and a choir of children.” And that’s Christmas in a nutshell. John Stonestreet, December 23, 2020.

What made the song hard to play was that my part had a repeating rhythmic theme to it – no problem – and the choir part had a repeating rhythmic theme as well…but the two patterns didn’t match! As I’ve reflected on it this week, maybe Britten intended the two parts to be at war with each other symbolizing the war the song talks about.

If you’re not familiar with the song, please take 97 seconds to listen to it. Yep. 97 seconds. It’s VERY fast. Here is a lovely rendition done by, as Stonestreet quoted Spurgeon above, a harp and a choir of children. Here are the words:

This little Babe so few days old
is come to rifle Satan’s fold;
all hell doth at his presence quake
though he himself for cold do shake;
for in this weak unarmèd wise
the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,
his naked breast stands for a shield;
his battering shot are babish cries,
his arrows looks of weeping eyes,
his martial ensigns Cold and Need
and feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed.

His camp is pitchèd in a stall,
his bulwark but a broken wall;
the crib his trench, haystacks his stakes;
of shepherds he his muster makes;
and thus, as sure his foe to wound,
the angels’ trump alarum sound.

My soul, with Christ join thou in fight,
stick to the tents that he hath pight.
Within his crib is surest ward,
this little Babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
then flit not from this heavenly Boy!

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2.10 – 12, ESV)

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon… And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. (Revelation 12.2 – 4, ESV)

…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, ESV)